Principal Software Engineer (Full-Stack Python)

Paychex is reimagining how businesses manage their workforce by bringing payroll, HR, benefits, and advisory services together into a single connected HCM platform. As Paychex and Paycor come together, we're combining innovative technology, data-driven insights, AI, and human expertise to help organizations work smarter, support their people, and achieve better business outcomes. This is an exciting time to join our team as we continue to invest in innovation, simplify client experiences, and shape the future of work. At Paychex, you'll have the opportunity to grow your career, make a meaningful impact, and be part of something bigger as One Paychex. Overview As a Principal Software Engineer, you will provide strategic partnership across teams, driving the architecture, design, and delivery of scalable software solutions. You will partner with Product and Engineering teams to solve complex business challenges, mentor engineers at all levels, and help shape the technical direction of the organization. Responsibilities Lead the architecture and design of large-scale software initiatives. Drive technical alignment and influence engineering strategy across teams. Mentor engineers and promote best practices, standards, and design patterns. Lead code reviews and drive continuous improvement in software quality. Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to deliver business value and remove technical roadblocks. Communicate regularly with the Product Management team to ensure you have a solid understanding of the product map. Responsible for ensuring effective integration of software across products, platforms and environments Champion DevOps practices across teams — CI/CD automation (CircleCI, GitHub Actions), infrastructure as code, observability, and release safety Lead the resolution process for technical issues Make changes to prevent recurrence, modifying existing code and faulty files, writing and running special programs Qualifications 8+ years of hands-on experience in full lifecycle software development. Strong knowledge of software engineering best practices, design patterns, and development methodologies. Strong experience with Python, including building serverless microservices on AWS (Lambda). Strong experience with JavaScript/TypeScript, React, and GraphQL APIs. Experience building and supporting distributed, event-driven systems, including integrations with third-party services and designing for resilience and failure recovery. Strong sense of production ownership and DevOps practices, including CI/CD (CircleCI, GitHub Actions), deployment, observability and monitoring (Datadog or equivalent), incident management, and operational support. Solid testing and verification mindset, with a focus on delivering reliable, high-quality software in environments where accuracy and correctness are critical. Experience using AI-powered tools Proven ability to drive technical excellence, influence change, and support cross-team initiatives. Ability to communicate technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Excellent collaboration, leadership, and problem-solving skills. What's in it for you? A flexible work philosophy Company paid private health insurance Company paid life and disability insurance Paid leave for illness, birth parents, non-birth parents, elder caregivers, marriage, adoption of a child and bereavement Inclusive and accessible Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to help with everyday challenges Christmas and Easter bonuses Opportunity for strengthening expertise and skills through Paychex’s learning platform, including lessons in English Not sure if you meet every requirement? At Paychex, we know that great talent comes in many forms. If you're passionate about the role but don't check every box, we still encourage you to apply. You might be the right fit - either for this position or another opportunity with us. Paychex is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to